My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (2019 film)
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a 2019 American 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film that is a CGI remake of the 2013 film of the same name. The film is being directed by Jayson Theissen. Directed by Jayson Thiessen from a story and screenplay by Meghan McCarthy (both Friendship Is Magic veterans). In the film, Twilight Sparkle chases an enemy into a new world and finds herself in a high school. There, she is shocked to find she and her friends have changed in to humans. The film features the voices of Sia, Emily Blunt, Zoe Saldana, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrea Libman, Uzo Aduba, Michael Peña, and Rebecca Schoichet. The film is produced by Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Allspark Pictures and Hasbro Studios. It is also the first Sony Pictures Animation film produced by Universal Pictures. My Little Pony: Equestria Girls ''was released in the United States on May 31, 2019 by Sony Pictures Releasing and Universal Pictures in 3D, Digital 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX and IMAX 3D. ''My Little Pony: Equestria Girls received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise toward the cast and humor. The film debuted as the top-grossing film at the box office and has grossed over $992 million against a $79 million, including becoming the highest-grossing Sony Pictures Animation film of all time, overtaking Addie, which came out the same year. It launched a new franchise. A sequel, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks, is set to be released on May 27, 2022. In addition, a TV series, My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Adventures, is set to premiere in 2020. Plot Twilight Sparkle visits the Crystal Empire for her first royal summit following her coronation as a princess of Equestria. Sunset Shimmer, a rogue student of Princess Celestia, emerges from a mirror portal and steals Twilight's crown, which contains the Element of Magic. After a chase through the castle, Sunset goes through the portal with Twilight's crown. The other princesses explain that the portal leads to an alternate world; as the other Elements of Harmony are unusable without the crown, Twilight is tasked with retrieving it from the other world before the portal closes for thirty moons. Despite Celestia's insistence that Twilight must travel alone, Twilight's assistant, Spike, follows her into the portal. Twilight and Spike emerge in the other world in the form of a human teenager and dog, respectively. Twilight, who struggles to adjust to her new body, investigates the nearby Canterlot High School and encounters its human students and staff, several of whom resemble ponies in Equestria. Masquerading as a transfer student, Twilight defends the counterpart of Fluttershy from being bullied by Sunset. Twilight learns that Fluttershy has delivered the dropped crown to Principal Celestia, mistaking it for a prop meant for the elected "princess" of the Fall Formal. Determining that no one would believe her claims of being a pony from another world, Twilight receives Celestia's permission to run for Fall Formal Princess against Sunset to recover the crown. While continuing to explore school life, Twilight discovers that the counterparts of Fluttershy and her other friends from Ponyville – Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash – have all separated out of animosity. Sunset, who learns of Twilight's campaign against her, sends her cohorts Snips and Snails to record a humiliating video of Twilight behaving like a pony, which is posted online and viewed by the entire school. The counterparts of Twilight's friends come to her aid, only to argue among themselves, revealing the cause of their rift to be a series of treacherous text messages and emails they supposedly sent each other. Through a theory of Twilight's, the five girls realize that Sunset sent these messages to deceive them. Reconciling, the five help Twilight perform a public dance routine for her campaign, which improves Twilight's image. In another attempt to undermine Twilight, Sunset has the formal decorations in the school gym wrecked and uses edited photographs to frame Twilight for the act. Although Sunset's ex-boyfriend Flash Sentry proves Twilight's innocence, the formal is postponed to the night after the portal to Equestria closes. Twilight and Spike reveal their true identities to the other girls, convincing them of the situation's urgency. Under Twilight's direction, they rally the other students and successfully repair the damage in time for its original schedule, earning Twilight more of the school's support. On the night of the formal, Twilight wins the election and the crown, but Sunset steals it back in a scuffle after kidnapping Spike and threatening to destroy the portal to Equestria. Upon donning the crown, Sunset transforms into a demon and hypnotizes the other students, revealing her intent to conquer Equestria with the school as her army. When Sunset attacks Twilight and her friends, their friendship activates the crown's magic, shielding them and giving them pony-like ears, wings and tails. The six girls use their magic to revert Sunset and their schoolmates to normal. Sunset is humbled by the power of the girls' friendship and tearfully apologizes for her actions. After celebrating at the formal and placing Sunset under her friends' care, Twilight and Spike return to Equestria with the crown as the portal closes. Cast * Sia as Twilight Sparkle, an alicorn and magical prodigy who is Equestria's Princess of Friendship. * Emily Blunt as Applejack , two of the "Mane 6"; Applejack is an honest apple farmer pony, and Rainbow Dash is a loyal pegasus and stunt flyer. * Zoe Saldana as Rainbow Dash * Kristin Chenoweth as Pinkie Pie * Andrea Libman as Fluttershy * Uzo Aduba as Rarity, a generous fashion designer unicorn and one of the "Mane 6". * Michael Peña as Spike, a baby dragon who is Twilight Sparkle's assistant. * Rebecca Schoichiet as Sunset Shimmer Various other Friendship Is Magic actors will reprise their roles from the television series and the Equestria Girls films. Nicole Oliver voices Principal Celestia. Production Development Following the November 2014 hacking of Sony's computers, emails between Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal and president Doug Belgrad were released, stating that Sony was planning to make a computer-animated MLPEG film. At the 2015 CinemaCon in April, Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman announced a computer-animated MLPEG film, and would be directed by Jayson Theissen. Casting On August 7, 2015, it was announced that Tony and Emmy award-winning actress Kristin Chenoweth would star in the film as Pinkie Pie, with Andrea Libman and Rebecca Schochiet signed to reprise their roles as Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer, respectively. On April 27, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter announced that actors Michael Peña (Ant-Man) and Uzo Aduba ("Crazy Eyes" from the Netflix original series Orange is the New Black) were in talks to join the cast as Spike and Rarity, respectively. On July 22, 2016, it was announced Australian singer-songwriter Sia was announced for Twilight Sparkle. On October 10, 2016, Emily Blunt revealed to website PopSugar that she is playing Applejack in the film. On February 10, 2017, the movie's supporting cast was announced through the actors' Twitter accounts, and it was announced that Zoe Saldana joined the cast as Rainbow Dash. Animation Michel Gagné joined the film as an effects animator on April 2, 2016, taking an eight-month hiatus from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, also made by Sony Pictures Animation. In early October 2016, Gagné reported that Nik Gipe was hired onto the film's staff as his assistant. He also mentioned that the film was being fully computer-animated by the Sony Pictures Imageworks animation department, which animates most of SPA's movies. According to art director Rebecca Dart, they wanted to keep to the look and feel of the television show, and the use of Sony Pictures Animatiion enabled them to add "simple yet impactful changes" to the designs for the big screen, such as depth and shadows for their eyes and ears, and the impression of heart-shaped indentations on the bottom of their hooves. The production of the film ended by January 29, 2019. CGI animation for props and sets were animated by the Sony Pictures Imageworks animation department. The production crew also used simple 3D modeling in Autodesk Maya as to determine camera locations, lens, and angles, rough lighting, character and prop placement, and which way the characters would be looking and expressing. The pre-visualization crew were able to use the 3D backdrops that became more detailed throughout the film's development to integrate the simple 3D character models, and then were able to test the animations on top of these scenes using the placement established by Maya, helping to speed up the production. Music Main article: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack The film's official soundtrack was released on May 17, 2019 by RCA Records. The film's songs and score were composed by Friendship Is Magic songwriter Daniel Ingram, who first announced at GalaCon 2017 that he would be collaborating with a live studio orchestra for the film. On his songwriting for the film, Ingram said, "I had to challenge myself to push beyond what had been done in the TV show; to write bigger, more epic." It was stated through the PonyRadioCon panel that the film would have a total of eight original songs. At Hasbro's Toy Fair investor presentation on February 17, 2018, it was announced that there would be seven songs. Around 5,800 pages of sheet music were created for all orchestral parts of the score. Recording for the score began on January 5, 2019, and finished on January 11. will.i.am & Pharrell Williams contributed an original song to the film, titled "This Is Great", which was released as a single on May 10, 2019. A music video for the song later released by Entertainment Weekly on May 14. Danish band Lukas Graham also contributed an original song for the film titled "Off to See the World", which was used in the film's first trailer. Katy Perry's 2010 song, "Firework" appeared during the end credits in the film. Other artists included in the album are DNCE and CL. Release On March 7, 2017, Lionsgate announced that they would distribute and market the film worldwide, with the exception of China. The film was showcased at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival on May 10 along with eight other Lionsgate features to help sell the film to international distributors. My Little Pony: Equestria Girls was originally scheduled for release on June 14, 2019, but on December 22, 2018, it was subsequently moved up to May 31, 2019. Theatrically, the film was accompanied by a 5-minute animated short IDog's Awesome Party from Hasbro's 2005 robot dog of the same name. A private premiere screening was held at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 theater in New York City on May 19, 2019, twelve days prior to the nationwide release date. Preview screenings were shown 11 days after on May 30, 2019; exactly one day before the official release. Marketing Numerous toys based on characters, sets, and props from the film were made by Hasbro, and a vast majority of the products was released on April 1, 2019. The 2018 PonyRadioCon panel included a brief preview for some of the planned merchandise being developed for the film, including T-shirts and graphics. On July 27, 2018, the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game hinted on Twitter about a new set of cards based on the film. Hasbro's toyline for the film was shown and promoted at Toy Fair 2017 and various other toy conventions. Entertainment Earth has produced plushies for the film, and started releasing them in waves on their website. Several books and comics related to the film have been announced: My Little Pony: Annual 2019, which contains "exclusive content from the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls movie" was released on April 10, 2019; and a "prequel" story released on April 1. On July 23, 2018, Hachette Book Group listed five different books for the film, all released on April 29, 2019. Books based on the film have been showcased at BookCon 2018 on August 4. IDW Publishing released a four-issue comic book miniseries titled My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Prequel, with the first issue released on February 27, 2019. Viz Media released an art book for the film on April 29, 2019. A comic adaptation based on the film by IDW was released on May 27, 2019. A teaser trailer for the film was released online on October 11, 2018, and in theaters alongside Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween the following day. The first full trailer debuted online on February 27, 2019, and was released with Addie two days later. Another trailer was released by USA Today online on May 7, 2019, and was released with Pokemon: Detective Pikachu three days later. The same day, the official My Little Pony Facebook page hosted a live Q&A stream with two of the movie's characters, Pinkie Pie (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth) and Twilight Sparkle (voiced by Sia). On May 27, 2019, the official My Little Pony Facebook page hosted a live Q&A stream with art director Rebecca Dart, who drew a custom artwork of Rainbow Dash (voiced by Zoe Saldana in the film). A sneak peak played during the season 14 premiere of America's Got Talent on May 28, 2019. Promotional partners for the film include General Mills, Ziploc, Bounty, and McDonald's. Discovery Family – a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro – aired a The Making of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls special on May 25. Home media My Little Pony: Equestria Girls was released on August 13, 2019 for digital downloads and was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 3, 2019 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Announced special features include a new featurette, and a all-new animated short film titled My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – The Mini Bow Tie of Doom' '''(a parody of Dreamworks Animation's short film ''Megamind: The Button of Doom), a sing-along song, and, for the film's Blu-ray version, audio commentary on the film by writer Meghan McCarthy, director Jayson Thiessen, co-director Ishi Rudell, vice president of development at Hasbro Studios Michael Vogel, and Hasbro's executive director Brian Lenard. Reception Box office My Little Pony: Equestria Girls has grossed $502.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $490.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $992.2 million. On June 21, 2019, it reached the $500 million milestone. On June 24, 2019, it reached the $600 million mark. On June 25, 2019, the film surpassed Addie to become Sony Pictures Animation's highest grossing film of all time domestically. On June 29, 2019, it reached the $700 million mark. On August 9, 2019, it reached the $900 million mark, becoming the first SPA film to do so. United States and Canada In the United States and Canada, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls will be released alongside Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Rocketman, and was projected to gross around $63 million in its opening weekend. It made $3 million on its first day, including $1.9 million from Thursday night previews. It ended up grossing $74.9 million, topping the box office during the weekend. The film dropped 55% in its second weekend, making $54 million and falling to 3rd behind The Secret Life of Pets 2 and Geoshea World: The Space Movie. Its fourth weekend made $43 million, leaving it #2 behind Toy Story 4. It ended its run on August 16, 2019. Internationally In the United Kingdom the film debuted to $4.1 million from 613 theaters. A week later the film expanded to Russia and made a combined $17.2 million between the two countries. Critical reception On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 5.73/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Charming and sweet, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls ''will please its dedicated fanbase, even if it's unlikely to encourage non-devotees to gallop along for the ride." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Expanded franchise Sequel ''Main article: My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks (2022 film) On June 3, 2019, it was announced that Sony Pictures Animation has started developing a sequel to the film, with Theissen returning to direct the sequel. In October 2019, it was announced that the cast would reprise their roles, and that the film would be released on May 27, 2022, taking over the slot for Addie 2, which was moved up two months early. Television series On May 31, 2019, Sony Pictures Animation filled a trademark for My Little Pony: Equestria Girls for "entertainment services in the nature of an animated television series," hinting that SPA is developing an animated TV series spin-off of the film, and that Discovery Family, the channel that airs My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, will air the show. On the same day the sequel was announced, Meghan McCarthy declared My Little Pony: Equestria Girls as their sixth franchise, saying that a TV series is expected, along with other "location-based entertainment." Category:Films